SIT from Amsterdam (circa 1976) worked as a digital creative for a number of commercial companies before deciding to stop the madness in 2008 and hence went back to “head and handcraft” to slice away at the fat.

1. What would you say is the most important theme in your work?
I would say ‘contrast’ in general. Meaning the good and the bad in our world. Only white can live through black and the other way around. That’s why I only paint in white and black. This is such an important theme for me because only than I can understand things a little more in this world.

2. What’s most inspiring to your working process?
The most inspiring thing of a working process, is the working process itself. Although I have a love/hate relationship with it. The process can run smooth when all aspects come together at the same time, but sometimes it’s such a torture and you have to dig deep to see if something is down there to bring to the surface. The process is never the same.

3. Have you any strange talents that influence the work you produce or the way you produce it?
I lick my brushes, I spit in my paint to make it more smooth and I mix my paint on the back of my hands. For the rest I go to bed early and always work sober. I eat fruit and vegetables like a rabbit and drink tea like an old English lady.

4. Which artist of the past would you resurrect to collaborate with and why?
I’d love to do a collab with Frida. While we’re working on our bloody painting I’d tell her that not all men are dicks and I’d love to help her shave that dark unibrow.

5. Do you think your work is understood or misinterpreted and why?
Both! Some people buy my paintings that only see the white side in the work, while there is always a dark side next to it. For example: The project ‘Killer Heels’ got a lot of attention. Among women animal skins in fashion is acceptable again – women need to have those high heels urgently. What I wanted to do was open up their minds to stopping this. Some blogs cursed me for using ‘real’ crocodiles to realise the ‘Killer Heels’ project. Off course I never used any real animals!

6. If you could decorate one place in the world what would it be and how would you do it?
I would paint the ‘White House’ black with a brush and a bucket of paint.

7. What to date has been your ‘cherry on the cake’ moment and what was it that got you there?
There are more cherry’s on my cake, BUT… doing a performance on the opening-night of the Stedelijk Museum (Modern Museum), in Amsterdam, was probably the most special moment. I loved showing my work to an audience that normally visits the museum for all its big names and now I get me a little stage inbetween them.

8. What we ask everyone! Does your artistic style influence your underwear?
Yes. I just wear black so I can wear them for weeks.
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More info www.sitnie.com
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